Song of the Day: Real Estate – It’s Real

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased tracks, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “It’s Real” by Real Estate from their forthcoming 2011 album Days on Domino Records.

Now that we finally seem to be getting some of the good old fashioned Northwest summer weather we’ve been craving so sorely for the past few months, it’s time to adjust our listening habits accordingly. You’d be hard-pressed to find a band that embodies the summer more than New Jersey indie rockers Real Estate. Their music is tantamount to sunlight glinting off the surface of a gently rippling body of water, and with song titles like “Beach Comber,” “Pool Swimmers,” “Suburban Dogs,” “Suburban Beverage,” and “Let’s Rock The Beach,” it’s clear that the trio isn’t shy about their summery aesthetic.

The members of Real Estate have been playing music together since high school, but it wasn’t until frontman Martin Courtney returned from college in Olympia, WA, that they started to write and record seriously. Their magnificent self-titled debut album was released on Woodsist in 2009 and their follow-up, Days, is slated to hit shelves and e-shelves alike on October 17. Though we’re still a few months away from getting our hands on a copy of the album, today’s featured song “It’s Real” has already been released as a single. Falling right in line with the band’s sense of blissful summer insouciance, “It’s Real” is a gliding, effortlessly melodious indie pop gem and provides a perfect soundtrack for a cloudless Seattle sky over the sun-splattered waters of Lake Washington.

Real Estate finished up a summer tour earlier this month, but will be playing at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn with Dr. Dog and Bright Eyes on August 31. For more info, visit their band website here. While we’re waiting for them to make their way to the Northwest, check out this home video of the band playing “It’s Real” at the Showbox last fall: